Woman Enters Guilty Plea

Attempted To Kill Roommate

NEW BRITAIN — A 55-year-old mentally ill woman who tried to suffocate her roommate at a nursing home in Rocky Hill last year pleaded guilty Wednesday to attempted murder.

But the punishment is uncertain for Marcia Hoggan, who stuffed tissues into Eleanor Mazzarella's mouth and cotton balls into her nose while they shared a room at Haven Health Care Center.

Hoggan could spend up to three years in prison as part of the plea bargain agreement, or avoid prison altogether if her public defender, Ken Simon, finds a nursing home willing to take her.

Simon, who has spent months trying to place Hoggan in a nursing home, said he has until her sentencing date, Nov. 18.

Superior Court Judge Susan B. Handy said during one of Hoggan's previous court appearances that although someone accused of attempted murder would normally go jail, she was making an exception in Hoggan's case because of her psychiatric history.

On April 22, 2004, Hoggan stuffed a travel-size pack of tissues into Mazzarella's mouth and clogged her nostrils with cotton balls because, Hoggan told her doctor, Mazzarella's husband was annoying.

Staff members quickly suspected that Hoggan was responsible because Mazzarella, who died in March of unrelated causes, was not able to put anything in her own mouth.